EPIC-Tom (the performance)

Vimeo above is a 03:20 min excerpt of the full performance.
Click here for Vimeo link to complete performance.

EPIC-Tom (the performance) broadens the field of audio visual performance through interspecies collaborative modes. The canine voice, and point of view, is presented as a disruption of anthropocentric notions on creativity. The project explores the vocals and embodied actions of Tom, Andreyev’s canine collaborator, with a representation of his euphoric, emotional connection to the world. Through the use of live animation, and micro-sound sampling, sight and sound experiment with extensions of time and experience of place that a canine may experience when focused on the task at hand.

Tom’s vocal recordings are treated using custom software to create an experimental live soundscape. Using “call and response” methods, Andreyev and members of the Vancouver Experimental Theremin Orchestra accompany the rich vocal soundscape of Tom. The performance is accompanied by live visuals—a generative animation of Tom imaged jumping for a ball—created using previous motion capture data of Tom. The objective of the project is to create a space for considering the canine subjective experience, thereby drawing attention to nonhuman agency and mind.

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $157 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country.
+Intersections Digital Studios, Emily Carr University of Art + Design.